Suspensions for small disc drives have typically been made in a three piece form or a four piece form. In a typical three piece construction, a thick arm is welded to a thin beam in a pre-load region, and a gimballed portion is mounted to the thin beam. In a typical four piece construction, a thick arm is attached to a pre-load bend region which in turn is attached to a beam with formed rails, onto which a gimballed portion is mounted.
Data storage devices have tended to be made smaller, yet with greater storage capacity, over time. Some applications have led to interest in “micro” disc drives, such as those that are one inch or smaller, and a fraction of an ounce, such as might be well suited to hand-held or otherwise easily portable devices, such as small music players, PDAs, digital still and video cameras, or external computer memory, for example. Adapting data storage technology to excel in current applications poses considerable technical challenges.
Embodiments of the present invention provide unforeseen advantages over typical suspensions, including promising application in novel data storage systems.